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Flyers End Preseason with 1-0 OT Loss in Boston |
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The Philadelphia Flyers finished the 2016 preseason with a 4-2-2 record after losing 1-0 in overtime to the Boston Bruins on Saturday. Ryan Spooner scored on an overtime breakaway to end the game. Steve Mason (22 saves on 23 shots) had two 60-plus minute shutouts in the preseason; this one ending in a loss. Mason also had an outstanding preseason last year.
Both Ivan Provorov and Travis Konecny (playing on a line with Sean Couturier and Jakub Voracek) excelled during training camp and made strong cases for inclusion on the Flyers' opening night roster. The final decision lays in the hands of Flyers general Ron Hextall.
Saturday's game got a bit testy at times with Couturier fighting David Backes in response to a hit on Voracek and the Bruins taking exception to a late hit by Radko Gudas on Austin Czarnik. On the latter play, the puck was gone by the time Gudas locked in on the hit but the other criticisms of the hit were largely unfounded. It was neither charging nor boarding, although Gudas was given a boarding minor on the play.
The Flyers went 29-for-31 on the penalty kill in preseason play; a hopeful sign after the PK struggled -- primarily on the road -- the last two seasons. For whatever it's worth Roman Lyubimov, Brayden Schenn (who is suspended for the first three games of the regular season), and Jordan Weal were Flyers' scratches.
The Flyers will not practice on Sunday. However, Hextall will meet with head coach Dave Hakstol and discuss roster decisions.
Broad Street Hockey's Charlie O'Connor put forth a very plausible scenario for how the Flyers could manage their opening night salary cap without putting Michael Del Zotto on long-term injured reserve until the opening night of the season (which would be more beneficial cap-management wise by maximizing his LTIR allowance). Basically, as an on-paper move, the Flyers would assign Shayne Gostisbehere to the Phantoms, along with Lyubimov. The next day, the Flyers would recall Gostisbehere -- who would not miss a single game with the Flyers -- and then move Del Zotto from injured reserve to long-term injured reserve to get the maximum allowance permitted by the CBA.
No doubt, a segment of Flyers fans (not understanding what was actually happening) would freak out but it would make perfect cap sense and would not affect Gostisbehere whatsoever. He wouldn't even report to Allentown. Whether this is the strategy the Flyers undertake or they do so via other means -- which would also be dependent on the exact composition of the roster, because adding or subtracting different players changes the cap scenarios -- the team does have some options available even with the wave of injuries that hit the team late in camp.
In the next few days, there should be a better sense if Brandon Manning (upper-body injury) will be available for opening night.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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